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What Crackdown? Migrant smuggling business adapts, thrives

Prima News
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What Crackdown? Migrant smuggling business adapts, thrives

The heavy-set man swept through a curtain into the reserved area of a nightclub as his bodyguard stood nearby. In the darkness, he agreed to talk about his business: handling the income from smuggling migrants across a 375-mile stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border.

“We control all the territory” along the frontier with Arizona, said the cartel money man, who asked to be identified only as Manuel. He spoke in the calm tones of a businessman discussing financial strategy rather than someone operating outside the law.

His organization, though he didn’t name it explicitly: the Sinaloa cartel.

In this Nov. 26, 2019 photo, a federal police officer assigned to the National Guard and a migration agent help a woman off the cargo hold of a truck packed with migrants being smuggled, at an immigration checkpoint where the truck was stopped in Medellín de Bravo, Veracruz state, Mexico. The final tally of people being smuggled in the truck was 74.
Central American migrants wait to catch a ride on a passing train in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz state, Mexico. Since entering office, U.S. President Donald Trump has been moving hard to limit legal and illegal immigration, repeatedly decrying a “crisis” at the border.
Central American migrants cook iguanas that they hunted with a slingshot next to the railroad tracks that they hope will take them north, in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz state, Mexico. The hardening of U.S. and Mexican immigration policies has complicated the trip north of most migrants trying to reach the U.S., with migrants now paying more money to reach their destination.
A migrant is escorted by a state police officer, after being rescued with dozens of other kidnapped migrants in Alvarado, Veracruz state, Mexico. U.S. President Donald Trump has been moving hard to limit legal and illegal immigration, pushing migrants “into mafia hands,” deciding that paying a smuggler was the only way to make it across the border, said Guillermo Valdes, a former Mexican intelligence
soldiers guard a truck that was moving dozens of Central American migrants, at an immigration checkpoint where the truck was stopped in Medellín de Bravo, Veracruz state, Mexico. The Mexican government has denounced smuggling networks that use semi-trailers, often painted with the logos of legitimate companies to disguise their cargo, and where there’s a risk the migrants could suffocate
Federal Police officer and a soldier question a woman after rescuing her and dozens of other migrants from the cargo hold of a truck, at an immigration checkpoint where the truck was stopped in Medellin de Bravo, Veracruz state, Mexico. The group was first attended by paramedics, rehydrated and them moved to other facilites.
A migration officer walks a youth to a government van after the he was rescued from the cargo hold of a truck where dozens of migrants were being smuggled, at an immigration checkpoint where the truck was stopped in Medellin de Bravo, Veracruz state, Mexico. The migrant was attended by paramedics before being allowed to be moved by authorities.
migrants are held in a van of the National Migration Institute after they were found in the cargo hold of a truck where dozens of Central American migrants were being smuggled, at an immigration checkpoint in Medellin de Bravo, Veracruz state, Mexico. Except for official border crossings, nearly every mile of river, desert and mountain along the U.S.-Mexican border is under the control of Mexico’s organized crime rings, which decide who can cross and how much they will pay.
A Mexican smuggler poses for photos after giving an interview in Nogales, Sonora state, Mexico. The smuggler who did not want to be identified, said that he pays a license fee to the Sinaloa cartel in order to operate in Nogales and he is only allowed to smuggle Mexican nationals across the Mexico – U.S. border. If he wanted to move other nationalities his license fee would go up.
Honduran migrants pray before dinner at the “Casa del Migrante,” or Home of the Migrant shelter in Altar, Sonora state, Mexico. The group is waiting for their turn to make it across the Mexico – U.S. border, lead by a smuggler

 

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